“Nice to meet you.”
The GM in front of me, the god who introduced himself as the father of the night sky, looked at me with a smirk in one eye.
“…Idiot?”
“Wh, what a harsh thing to say! I’m not the god of illness, I’m the god of the moon.”
“·Crazy god. You deserve divine punishment for running things like that.”
I scoffed.
To begin with, they made the hero ridiculously weak, and is it even reasonable that the difference in stacking between him and the demon king is five times?
Now, there’s some sort of power inflation going on.
But why nerf the dragon?
I was born as a dragon, but it has no meaning.
We dragons are stronger than most humans, but weaker than the hero.
I glared at the GM, and it seemed that he was so shocked that he couldn’t speak for a while.
“…Okay, I have nothing to say, no matter what you say to me………….”
The GM, looking gloomy, squatted down on the floor.
Golden Sister approached and patted his back.
What a lucky guy.
The GM, who was a bit teary-eyed, said something quite shocking.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…I don’t want to see a man kneeling and crying like that.”
I spoke politely because he was a god, but my eyes were full of disdain.
A sickly handsome boy, just my least favorite type.
How should I put it? It’s like my instincts are screaming out.
And he was even cross-dressing through the system window; I couldn’t forgive him.
“…I was the one who called you here.”
“…What are you talking about?”
He was crying again.
“Hi, you bastard…!”
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I’m glad to see you’re living well.”
“…Did you call me just to say that?”
“That’s not it. My friend cut in, so I called you to do what I couldn’t.”
What couldn’t he do?
The GM, saying this, came closer and placed his hand on my head.
“…!!”
I was a bit startled, but the surprisingly warm touch confused me.
He was definitely a sickly, handsome boy.
It was frustrating to see someone like that doing this, a mix of everything I disliked.
“Let’s just finish and let me go.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
The GM closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Then, I felt soft, purple divine power swirling around my body.
“…It might hurt.”
“Excuse me?”
“Of course, I mean.”
The moon god sighed deeply after saying this.
“…I really can’t bear to see this anymore.”
“?!”
What did he mean by that?
Looking to the side, Golden Sister had a complex, subtle expression on her face.
She smiled at me, but I could feel her eyes trembling.
“…Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I’m fine. Minho is a soul that’s suffered a lot because of me.”
“Shouldn’t I at least give you Ma’an as compensation?”
At those words, Golden Sister’s wings drooped.
She looked exhausted, and her forced smile made me feel sorry for her.
“…This will raise my rank even more, and then my body will heal faster.”
I stared blankly at the GM, who muttered something with a slightly ominous tone.
[Minho, my child.]
[From now on, I officially appoint you as my apostle.]
[Please, fulfill your mission.]
Only text appeared on the status window, and no voice was heard.
The empty space was filled by the amplified voice of the GM through divine power.
The rising divine power gathered toward my eyes.
And there was something unsettling.
A purple light obscured my vision.
It was unsettling, because purple often brings certain images to mind, and none of those were pleasant.
I began to wonder if I was being deceived by some evil god.
To be honest, his appearance was far from good.
I could see purple magic leaking from the bandages all around him.
The white blindfold was already soaked with red blood and purple magic.
However, the smile on his lips was a truly benevolent one.
“Ugh!!”
That smile twisted.
The trembling corners of his mouth tried to maintain the smile, but cold sweat was already running down his face.
His eyes, which had been gently closed, did not open again.
He simply kept his eyes shut and exhaled heavily.
“…Ugh….”
“Are, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine… What kind of god can’t do this much for their apostle?”
It broke my heart to see him shake his hand, saying he was fine, even as his body seemed to be dying.
He was the kind of person I felt sorry for, someone who seemed too good to have been cruel to.
“…Minho, the power I gave you… I hope you use it well.”
I glanced at the GM and then answered Golden Sister.
“…I’ll help you through the status window from now on!”
“…Don’t sulk, and speak like a woman!”
“I forgot to say it.”
Looking at Golden Sister scratching her head, I tilted my head in confusion.
“But, what did I receive?”
I couldn’t feel the power that the GM was struggling with and that Golden Sister had asked me to use properly.
When I asked her, Golden Sister opened her mouth to reply.
But the answer came from beside me, not in front of me.
·My, eyes.
“You were given the eyes of a god. The Ma’an.”
“Since we’ve been playing a game, Minho, you know about it, right?”
Ma’an?
What is Ma’an?
It’s the eyes of the god granted when you class change to a priest while leveling up the hero with a completely boring and tedious route, praying all day.
Literally the eyes of a god.
As soon as you eat these eyes, the hero’s power skyrockets.
It’s often said that it breaks through to the ceiling.
But, there’s a crazy penalty where you can’t bring in any romantic partners into your party.
Anyway, Ma’an is so overpowered that a holy warrior who consumes it is considered the bare minimum requirement for end-game content, like dragon hunting.
“…So, does that mean I can only make a same-gender party now?!”
“It was just a joke, you can still make a party. You’re not really a priest.”
GM smiled while gently touching his now empty eyes.
I guess he didn’t open them to avoid shocking me or due to the pain.
“I’m giving this to you as an apology.”
What kind of apology involves taking your own eyes out and giving them away!!!
“Anyway, Ma’an is beautiful, right? I think my eyes are pretty.”
GM smiled proudly, as if he was showing off.
I smiled back at him.
Though I’m sure he wouldn’t see it.
“…Are you smiling?”
“How did you know?”
But surprisingly, GM seemed to know I was smiling.
“I can feel your magic strongly. I can even tell your status.”
“Is it because you appointed me as your apostle?”
GM, saying this, came closer and patted my head.
It felt oddly comforting.
It felt like the bond had grown a bit stronger.
Was it because I became an apostle?
“Nice to meet you.”
“…Yes.”
Honestly, I didn’t really like it, but after receiving an unexpected apology and even this gift, I thought it would be rude to dislike it.
“…I’ll do my best.”
I clenched my fists, determined.
Seeing this, Golden Sister approached me and playfully patted my cheek.
“Ah, you got saliva on you.”
“It’s fine.”
“?!?!?”
Is that really something a god should say?
“Now, it’s time to return, Minho.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Goodbye.”
I really wished she would stop that. She stuck to me like an eel and wouldn’t let go.
“I have one more gift for you.”
“Should I call her a saint who will assist you?”
“Anyway, do your best.”
“It looks like your heart is starting to open up a bit.”
Before I could even ask who that was, I felt my body being pushed backward.
No, to be exact, it felt like the space was leaving, leaving me behind.
Looking at the white room that was getting farther away, I waved back at the two people gesturing to me.
I didn’t know when I’d see them again.
Although I could still communicate through the status window, it felt different seeing their faces in
person.
[Congratulations! You have been appointed as the apostle of the Father of the Night Sky!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the Ma’an of the full moon!]
[Congratulations! The title “Child of the Emperor” has evolved into the “Apostle of the Moon and Gold”!]
What? When did Golden Sister make an apostolic contract with me?
Now that I think about it, the GM had mentioned that Golden Sister cut in and did this or that.
She must have done it secretly while the GM was suffering.
Two gods fighting over me.
It didn’t feel bad at all.
“…By the way, I wonder how my eye looks right now.”
It was a little worrying.
As I thought that, I suddenly felt my consciousness flying away.
I had completely left the realm of the gods, the Heavenly Realm.
The birth ceremony, which should have been full of joy, was supposed to take place in the Dragon
Kingdom, but it had a very somber atmosphere.
“…T-The princess!”
“The princess has collapsed!!”
In front of the entire population, the princess had collapsed.
The royal physicians diagnosed it as mana exhaustion, but if that were true, Minho should have woken up by now, three days later.
The great dragon’s mana recovery speed is unbelievably fast.
And Minho, with his exceptional talent and potential, was even more of a monster.
Many couldn’t accept that diagnosis.
The physician who made the diagnosis himself did multiple tests to confirm it.
Even the elder Baal gave the same diagnosis.
No matter how much mana they tried to infuse, it was all being drained.
It was as though something enormous was sucking all of Minho’s mana away.
Inside the patient room, a woman with sky-blue hair looked at the unconscious Minho with uneasy eyes.
“…Minho… our Minho…”
She was Erses, the queen of the kingdom and Minho’s mother.
With a wistful expression, she gently stroked Minho’s cheek as he lay unconscious.
“…Won’t you wake up and let me hold you?”
“Mom is waiting for you…”
Though Minho didn’t respond, Erses continued calling his name, afraid that her child’s small heart might stop if she stopped.
She tightly gripped Minho’s hand.
“…Mom?”
“Minho?!”
It was then that Minho opened his eyes.
As soon as he opened them, a status window appeared in front of him.
[You were out of mana, right? Sorry, I’ll give you the Ma’an once you recover some mana.]
[The Ma’an seems to have consumed all your mana, which is why you couldn’t wake up.]
Minho thought to himself:
Why the hell is my god like this?
The apostle truly worried about his god.